Classical Ash‘arī Anthropology: Body, Life and Spirit

Abstract

A lthough it is widely recognised that Ash'arism enters the sixth/twelfth century with a physicalist theory of man and exits with an Avicennan-inspired body-soul dualism, the exact nature and circumstances of this conversion, one of the starkest and most momentous shifts in school doctrine, remain little understood.1 In contrast to the considerable attention that al-Ghazālī's theory of the soul, the earliest episode in the post-classical era, has received in recent scholarship, there are hitherto no focused studies on pre-Ghazālian classical Ash'arī anthropology beyond a brief, but valuable, treatment of some of the school-founder's teachings. 2 In relative terms, the interest that Mu'tazilī anthropology has received is immense.3 Our immediate objective in the present article is to address this gap by offering a comprehensive exploration of the theory of man expounded in the available classical Ash'arī sources. A forthcoming study will then investigate the concerns and circumstances that were at play in the radical, but gradual, transformation that Ash'arī anthropology underwent during the late-fifth/eleventh and sixth/twelfth centuries, including criticisms of the philosophical theory of the rational soul.

On a body‐switching argument in defence of the immateriality of human nature

“…On Mu'tazilites' view, see Madelung (2012), andVasalou (2007). For Ash'arīs' view, see Shihadeh (2012). In relation to this, it is worth noting that the Mu'tazilite theologian Muʿammar ibn ʿAbb ad (d. 830) and Shīʿī theologian al-Shaykh al-Mufīd (d. 1032), among classical kal am theologians, were two exceptions who believed in an immaterial conception of the human soul (McDermott, 1978, p.223 andVan Ess, 1992, p. 84).…”

Between Cordoba and Nīsābūr

“…A number of modern scholars have referred to this period as that of 'classical Ashʿarism' (e.g. Frank 1989a;Frank 1992: 18;Frank 2000;Frank 2004;Shihadeh 2012). Yet the representatives of this period did not propagate a homogeneous set of doctrines: a number of case studies have shown that Ashʿarite teachings were subject to constant developments and revisions, and that the introduction of philosophical ideas, a shift generally identified with al-Ghazālī, even started with earlier theologians.…”